Chinese output growth slows to five-year low in August at 6.9%

It also fell far short of the 8.7 per cent median increase in a survey of 15 economists by The Wall Street Journal. The abrupt slowdown and other data released today are certain to compound growing worries over the strength of China’s economy — a key driver of world commerce – following recent indicators suggesting growth is weakening even after authorities took limited stimulatory measures.

Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, rose 11.9 per cent in the same month on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics said —  also down from 12.2 per cent in July. Fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, expanded 16.5 per cent on-year in the first eight months of 2014. The figure is only released as a cumulative change.

It was below the 17.0 per cent reading for the first seven months of the year, and also below the 16.9 per cent forecast. China’s government is targeting expansion of about 7.5 per cent in GDP this year as it tries to steer the country’s growth model towards consumer spending and away from the export- and investment-fuelled double-digit economic expansion regime of the past.